The 2026 FIFA World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico has begun. While the tournament started on an extremely high note, several teams are yet to play their first game in the campaign. One such team includes the 2018 World Cup winner, France. On Jun. 16, 2026, France is set to clash with their fellow Group I team, Senegal.
One of the strongest teams in Africa, Senegal are expected to give a tough competition to France in the tournament. However, in a recent exclusive with ClutchPoints, France’s 1998 World Cup winner and Chelsea veteran Frank Leboeuf opened up about his team’s biggest competition. While other teams face obstacles from their fellow participating teams, Leboeuf believes “Les Bleus” are their own biggest enemy.
“Biggest obstacle for France? It’s possible that I think that Spain and France will be playing against each other before the final. But I would say to make it more realistic, I would say that the best enemy of France is France itself. Again, if you don’t find the chemistry, if you have egos, between the problem, ego issues between the players, they’re not gonna win anything. And when we are the favorites, it’s never good with France,” Leboeuf said.
“We never manage to do anything. But again, we played four World Cup finals in seven World Cups. So it’s possible for France to win, meaning having three World Cup finals in a row, which is exceptional. So saying, they are favorites, but you have to prove it. France has only one enemy, France itself,” he further opened up and explained.
With a strong and young side, the French team is heading into this year’s World Cup after reaching two consecutive World Cup finals, one in 2018 and the other in 2022. Interestingly, France won the 2018 World Cup against Croatia.
Frank Lebouef analyzes French captain Kylian Mbappé’s role in the squad
For the past few months, fans and pundits have been heavily critical of Kylian Mbappé’s role and form for both Real Madrid and France. Despite a strong start in La Liga, Mbappé found himself out of the squad with an injury. Leading the French side this year, Lebouef has high hopes for the young player.
Very important. I remember that in the last World Cup, the guy was capable of scoring three goals in 50 minutes, and nobody has done that in a World Cup final. I remember that at the beginning of the season, Real Madrid desperately needed him, and they weren’t good, but Kylian was keeping on scoring goals for Real Madrid. That was exceptional. So nobody can deny the fact that Kylian Mbappé is a great and fantastic player,” he said.
“He has to work a lot more on ‘What do I do when I lose the ball,’ you know? We don’t ask him to go back and tackle and everything. No. We want him to be fresh when we have the ball. But we want him to go back into his position to make sure that he helps his teammates a little bit, that he shows commitment to the defensive part of the game, which is very important nowadays. I wanna believe that the team is a star and not only one player. The prime is all football players nowadays; they believe in statistics. That’s the problem. The leadership held by players like Doué on the right side, Olise on the right side, maybe Dembélé on the number 10, with the hard work of Tchouaméni and Rabiot in the middle of the park, Kylian Mbappé can score many goals.”
Germany’s Miroslav Klose is currently the highest goal-scorer in World Cup history. With a total of 16 goals in 4 tournament appearances, his record is currently being targeted by Mbappé. The French forward already has 12 goals, and when asked if he could break it, Lebouef shared a positive answer. “That’s gonna be hard. I mean, nobody would have thought when Klose did it that they would be capable of doing. Because he’s a great, he was a great player, but not as big as Maradona or so many Platini, or Johan Cruyff. But he did it, and it’s a hard task. And credit to him.”
He also opened up on Ousmane Dembélé’s growth and the rise the 29-year-old has seen since his struggling Barcelona FC days. “Yes, and for many reasons. He realized that he had to be professional. I don’t know what happened. I was told that sometimes he was playing until 3:00 AM, [PlayStation] or whatever it was. You know?
“You need real discipline when you’re a football player. And I think because of the help of Luis Enrique, Ousmane, because he’s a smart person, understood his tasks in football very much. And he’s been absolutely fantastic, absolutely perfect. Deserving of the Ballon d’Or, scoring goals in the Champions League final, and winning the league again. Everything that is happening to Ousmane Dembélé, he absolutely deserves because of what he changed to make sure that he would be that kind of player,” Lebouef added.
Comparing Frank Lebouef’s own French team vs the current generation of France
When asked to compare the current generation of France’s national team with his era’s team, Lebouef explained that such a comparison was not possible. However, moving past all the technicalities, he shared his thoughts on the matter.
“The thing is, it’s always difficult to compare generations because, for example, refereeing has changed. You know? Let’s say that we play, we are all fit, which is not the case. But we all play, France ’98 and France’ 26. If we have a referee from our time, I think they won’t last, like, 10 minutes because of tackles and everything that is a butcher. On the other hand, if we play now, we’ll have like six red cards in the first five minutes. So it’s different to compare.”
However, he also made sure to add that his generation’s team was more complete, and it might have been a difficult task for the 2026 squad to beat them. “I think I would say that we were more complete. The ’98 team was more complete in every line. At the back, in the middle of the park, we were so strong. And because we had Zidane, Djorkaeff, Trezeguet, Thierry Henry at the front, that was efficient too. So I wouldn’t say we were better, but it would have been a very difficult task for the 2026 team to beat us.”
1998 World Cup Frank Lebouef breaks down France’s 2026 World Cup chances
In the same exclusive interview with Clutchpoints, presented and arranged by talkSPORT Bet Online Slots ahead of the World Cup, Lebouef also broke down France’s chances of this year’s World Cup.
“I wanna believe that with the talent that we have in France, we will create fear for our opponents. And according to the media and everybody, you know, we share the spot of favorites with Spain. Our records in the World Cup, for the last seven World Cups, France played four finals, it means a lot. With the players that we have, the coaches that we have, the experience that we have, I wanna believe that it’s possible. But you need to find the chemistry. You will need to be lucky as well at some point. You will need to avoid injuries. It’s a big tournament, a long tournament.”
France will begin their World Cup by playing Senegal, followed by Iraq and Norway.
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